Gordon Brown rubbished SNP attacks on Labour’s refusal to commit to scrapping the two-child benefit cap, saying they had overseen a rise in Scottish child poverty rates.
Mr Brown has spent his time since leaving office campaigning on growing levels of child poverty across the UK.
He previously said the UK was seeing poverty it had “never seen before” in his lifetime.
This has included work to expand the “multibank” initiative, born in Fife, which gets essentials to families in need through partnerships with Amazon and other businesses.
But he came into conflict with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, which limits welfare support for families with more than two children born after 2017.
Studies have shown the Conservative policy is a key-driver of poverty rates, but Sir Keir U-turned on a previous commitment to scrap the benefit rule, blaming the state of the public finances.
It has drawn sharp criticism from anti-poverty campaigners and the SNP, who have called for it to be abolished.
‘The SNP has not done enough’
Asked about the criticism, and whether he thought the nationalist’s had a more radical offering on tackling poverty, Mr Brown said: “Child poverty is still rising in Scotland. Whatever the SNP has done is clearly not enough.
“When we left power in 2010 there was one foodbank, now there’s nearly 200. This is what has happened.
“The only way to deal with poverty is to have a Labour government replacing the Conservative government, working with the Scottish Government and with Fife and other local authorities.”
“The SNP cannot say they have solved the problem. They have the power to do so but haven’t solved the problem.”
Labour sources are optimistic the party will see a recovery across the Kingdom, potentially winning three seats, including Glenrothes and Mid Fife, Dunfermline and Dollar, and Mr Brown’s former seat of Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy.
“If we win Glenrothes, it will be a very good night for us. We’re fighting for every vote,” one insider said.
Campaigning with Richard Baker, the party’s candidate in Glenrothes and Mid Fife, Mr Brown said SNP MPs had left Fife behind.
“You want an MP who is fighting for Fife and the people of Fife,” he said.
“What we’ve had with the SNP is MPs talking about independence. What people want is results.
“They want jobs. They want the health service to be better. They want things to change in their daily lives.
“I think if you have a representative like Richard Baker, he is going to fight for jobs, for children, fight for the energy transition to benefit Fife.”
SNP blast benefit cap
SNP candidate for North East Fife Stefan Hoggan-Radu said the two-child cap is the single biggest policy pushing children into poverty.
“The SNP would choose to scrap the two-child cap, the question for Gordon Brown is why Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is going to keep it,” he said.
“SNP action in government such as the creation and uplifting of the game-changing Scottish Child payment, Best Start Grants and the expansion of free school meals is helping to lift 100,000 children in Scotland out of poverty.
“Thanks to the SNP Scottish Government spending money to mitigate Westminster’s cruel and punitive welfare cuts, child poverty rates, while still unacceptably high, are lower than elsewhere in the UK.”
He claimed the SNP can stand against a big Labour majority at Westminster and opposed “£18 billion of cuts”.
Other candidates standing in Glenrothes and Mid Fife are John Beare (SNP), Debbie MacCallum (Conservative), Jill Reilly (Liberal Democrat) and Ian Sinclair Smith (Reform).
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